This day had been very productive, Chanyeol thought, whistling happily to himself as he fished for the freshly made keys he had taken the liberty of getting done while Kyungsoo was still asleep that morning. He hoped Kyungsoo hadn’t needed the house keys – Chanyeol didn’t think he’d be out for this long. It was meant to be a short trip to the hardware store to impress Kyungsoo with how adept he was at getting things done but one thing led to another and next thing he knew he was shooed out of the university library so they could close. Maybe he should’ve gone to the 24-hour library rather than the small faculty library he was used to, or maybe he should’ve just come back home before starting his research, but there was obviously no point in dwelling on what ifs and should haves now. Home, Chanyeol thought. He couldn’t help but smile at the word. It would probably take a good few weeks or months before the thought of living with Kyungsoo would stop making him look like a goofy lovestruck idiot.

Finding the keys underneath both the brand new and old clocks he had used as reference in the shopping bag he was carrying, Chanyeol unlocked the front door and walked in to find the lights on, indicating Kyungsoo was home and awake. “Kyungsoo?” he called out and turned to the living room to find not one, but two people staring at him with what could only be described as stupefaction.

“You stupid son of a ,” Tao muttered once the shock had apparently passed, before turning to speak to Kyungsoo. “Let me know once you’re done dumping him so I can start moving in.” He got off the couch he was sitting on and shouldered past Chanyeol to leave the house.

Completely and utterly confused, Chanyeol decided to just let it go and gestured to the shopping bag he was carrying.“I got us new clocks.”

“What the actual ,” Kyungsoo spat, obviously beyond the seething stage.

Chanyeol supposed the situation was more than just ‘Tao being Tao’ and had progressed to ‘Tao telling Kyungsoo what to think’ while he was away. He mentally took a step back to try to think of a rational explanation for everything. Maybe the old clocks held sentimental value for Kyungsoo. Maybe Kyungsoo had plans with Tao that he had ruined by taking Kyungsoo’s keys. Maybe Kyungsoo didn’t appreciate Chanyeol using one of his many post-it notes. None of those was worth ending a relationship for, surely? But with Tao and his ill-founded ideas in the mix, Chanyeol could never be sure.

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol asked, before remembering that that exact same question triggered a so-called ‘fight’ a few months ago that resulted in the new elephant-obsessed Kyungsoo. “I mean, what’s up?”

“What do you think?” Kyungsoo snapped. “How could you just upped and left without notice?”

“But I did leave a note,” Chanyeol pointed out, placing the shopping bag on the small side table in the room, barely registering that the tablecloth they had bought yesterday was gone, before sitting himself down on the couch next to Kyungsoo. “And I was only gone for a few hours.”

“You were gone for the whole day and your note made it worse.”

“I got sidetracked,” Chanyeol admitted. “Which reminds me, I was talking to this guy at the hardware store-”

“I don’t care,” Kyungsoo interrupted, standing up abruptly. “I want you to leave.”

“But I only just got back.”

“Just go,” Kyungsoo persisted. “You have no idea what I’ve been through today.”

“No, I don’t,” Chanyeol said, patting the couch. “So let’s sit down and you can tell me all about it.”

Kyungsoo frowned and remained standing. “Do you realise what you did?”

“I got the clock problem sorted. Your bedside clock died too by the way. The battery must’ve been at least ten years old, it was leaking and everything so I thought-”

“You left while I wasn’t aware and put up a vague note on the fridge. How do you think that makes me feel?”

“Like you know what’s happening?”

“Don’t you know what happened to me three years ago? Don’t you remember what you were helping me get over just yesterday, after three ing years?”

“Oh,” Chanyeol said stupidly, finally realising what the issue was. “I guess I didn’t put that much thought into it.”

“I’ve always been told that you’re dodgy and undeserving and stupid but I never listened.”

“I’m sorry I did something stupid again,” Chanyeol said slowly, knowing full well who the culprit behind those words was. “It’s not the first time and probably won’t be the last but I honestly didn’t think it’d be this big of an issue.”

“You don’t think, period.”

“That’s true, so there’s no way I’m capable of concocting some evil plan to leave you without you finding out about it.”

Kyungsoo hesitated, seeming to consider that statement. “Then why can’t anybody reach you by phone?”

“Oh,” Chanyeol said again. He had completely forgotten about that. He rummaged through the shopping bag on the side table and found what he was looking for. “I got us both new numbers.”

“What?”

“You said you want us to change our names and start a new life, right? I thought we could start with this.” Chanyeol held up the two SIM card packs, one opened and the other brand new. “I cancelled my old SIM while I was at the store. I thought I was coming back straight away anyway so I’d make it before you start panicking but then things happened.”

“Why didn’t you call me to let me know?”

That was a good question, Chanyeol thought. “I guess it never crossed my mind because I was too excited about everything else.”

“SIM cards and clocks are more important to you than me?”

“I didn’t say that,” Chanyeol said, patting the couch again to urge Kyungsoo to sit down, aware that Kyungsoo’s earlier fire was seemingly extinguished. “I love you, but I’m also stupid and can’t think of more than one thing at a time. I thought you already know that.”

“Baekhyun said you said you were going to help Luhan move but didn’t show up.”

Chanyeol paused. “I completely forgot about that too.”

“Everybody thinks you dumped me and ran away.”

“I don’t think everybody does, and I definitely haven’t done that.”

Kyungsoo reluctantly sat himself down on the couch, appearing to be deep in thought. “You made me feel so terrible I had to call Tao and Baekhyun over to help.”

“Tao hates my guts and you hate Baekhyun’s guts, so I’m not sure how any of them would’ve helped.”

“What was I supposed to think? You were gone, all the clocks in the house were gone, and there was a post it note on the fridge. Tell me how that wouldn’t mess someone up.”

Not knowing where to even start, Chanyeol settled for, “I told you this before, but life is a lot simpler than you think. Just try taking things at face value sometimes.”

“But you didn't come back ‘in a bit,’” Kyungsoo pointed out.

“Oh, that’s right,” Chanyeol said, remembering what he was getting at earlier. “I went to Carmine Creek.”

“You went where?”

“I was talking to the locksmith at the hardware store – I made a copy of your house keys, by the way – and he said that there’s a regular rave held every few weeks or so near Carmine Creek. It’s meant to be an underground type thing so people only know about it through social media. I’m guessing that’s what you went to instead of some random person’s party.”

“I’m not sure.”

“So anyway, he told me exactly where the rave’s usually held and what it’s called because he thought I was interested in going, so I went.”

“You did what?”

“Obviously the rave’s not on right now, but I thought I’d look around just in case there’s a dead body somewhere.” Chanyeol shrugged. “I don’t see how it’s possible, unless you buried her, which you said you didn’t. That area is basically a very well maintained park, so there’s no way a corpse can be there for this long without someone noticing.”

“I remember getting away from the crowd and going somewhere a bit secluded.”

“Probably between the trees or behind some bushes. There’s literally nowhere you can possibly hide a dead body there.”

“Hang on,” Kyungsoo said suddenly. “I was starting to remember something just before, when Baekhyun was here.” He hesitated, apparently trying to recollect the events of that night, before realisation slowly seemed to dawn on him. “I didn’t cheat on you.”

“Well, I’m glad we got that sorted out.”

“She wanted to talk,” Kyungsoo continued. “She thought I was flirting with her and I said I wasn’t. She asked me if I was gay as if that was the only possible reason I wouldn’t be interested in her, so I tried to explain auality to her and she seemed interested and suggested we go somewhere quieter to talk, but it turned out that she was more interested in telling me how she wouldn’t want to date someone like that, whatever that meant, and giving me all these reasons and turning out to sound so much like Baekhyun that it really pissed me off, and then- and then-”

“And then maybe she passed out and spilled some sangria on herself because she was so drunk, and you left her there,” Chanyeol finished. “But your drunk mind thought she was bleeding and unconscious, so you must’ve done something bad.”

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo said, burying his face in his palms. “I don’t know how I even remember any of that.”

“Just make things mean what you want them to mean,” Chanyeol said, shifting closer to Kyungsoo to put an arm around his shoulder to comfort him. “There’s no body, no broken glasses, no blood stained rocks or branches. There’s no way you could’ve done what you think you did so stop torturing yourself and just tell yourself that it was sangria.”

Kyungsoo looked at him. “How do you simplify everything so easily?”

“I just don’t think,” Chanyeol said, giving a nonchalant shrug. “But if it’s still bothering you, I found the Facebook page for the rave and they have photos from all the raves that’s been held. I tried to find something useful, a picture of someone with you or something, but I don’t know the exact date so I can’t be much help there.”

“That’s what Tao said I should do too.”

“I guess he has decent ideas every now and then.”

“But the elephant’s not real,” Kyungsoo mumbled, almost to himself.

“No, it’s not.”

Kyungsoo heaved out a sigh, seemingly letting out the burden of the world along with that breath, before letting it melt into soft chuckles. “Thank you.”

“Does this mean you’re not dumping me?”

Kyungsoo paused, apparently remembering something. “I threw your things away.”

“In the big bin?”

Kyungsoo nodded.

“I’ll just grab them back out,” Chanyeol said, unperturbed. “Is Tao moving in with us for some weird reason?”

“No, I’ll let him know.”

“I can’t imagine he’ll be too thrilled.”

“He’ll be fine.” A frown formed on Kyungsoo’s face as he apparently thought of something else. “He said you left a lot of things at your old house.”

“Did I? I don’t think I’m missing anything important.”

“You’re not planning on leaving me then?”

“Not at all.”

“Why have you still not broken up with me?”

“Because I don’t want to,” Chanyeol answered without thinking, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu.

“But I’m neurotic and paranoid and- and-”

“And aual?” Chanyeol suggested.

“Yes.”

“But I love you for all those reasons. I mean, I’m stupid and thoughtless and ual to boot, but I don’t see you complaining. Well, actually I do, but you know what I mean.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “I still don’t understand you after all this time.”

“That’s okay, we have forever to figure each other out.”

a/n: Boom! Done! I started A Second Existence way back in June 2014 and I don't know what possessed me to write a sequel but istg I don't ever want to write about this group of characters ever again. I vaguely remember being tipsy on wine more than half the time I was writing this and ASE, which makes them a bit cringeworthy to reread at times but I at least stuck with the original plot and I think this turned out okay overall. Not a masterpiece, but it was fun to write, even though it took me literally more than a year to finish. Hopefully all of you enjoyed reading this, even the slightest bit. Thank you for reading/subscribing/commenting/upvoting!